Today I spent the day following two local believers going from house to house visiting refugees displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria.

We distributed food and clothing, listened to their heart-breaking stories, then prayed in the name of Jesus that they would have their daily needs met and hearts comforted. One of the men we visited showed us his shrapnel-punctured leg. I nursed an 8 day-old baby in my arms and pondered whether her future would be brighter than her family’s past.

My prayer tonight for these families is that they would know our Prince of Peace and share our hope of an eternity filled not with war but with worshipping the Lamb in unending joy.

Amidst the sadness of today I was struck by how warmly we were welcomed into each shabby, overcrowded house with generous kisses and strong, soupy coffee. It was an overwhelming ‘stranger-immediately-treated-like-life-long-friend’ sort of hospitality and is characteristic of what I constantly experience as I live here.

While perhaps headlines of violent anti-government uprisings, anti-Western aggression and tribal hostilities are what the international news chooses to broadcast about this region of the world, my experience of living here has been quite different.

I’m constantly astounded by the way strangers invite me off the street into their homes to eat with them. I’m amazed by generous gifts I’ve received from shopkeepers. I’m constantly surprised by people’s kindness as they endure my ‘developing’ Arabic and if I managed to consume all the sugar-caked treats that arrive at my front door care of my generous landlord, I would actually be the size of a camel!

Constantly being on the receiving end of this sort of hospitality isn’t always easy. It’s uncomfortable having moved here thinking I was coming to serve and it’s hard that the extravagance of the hospitality people show me isn’t something that is usually possible to equal or repay. But I guess I try to remind myself that I do have a form of hospitality to offer that is more important than the delicious meals, gifts and friendship people have shared with me here. A message of a lavishly loving Father who gave his only Son to welcome back those who had rejected him and a selfless Son who is currently in heaven preparing a guest room for those who accept his invitation.

Please pray that people here would know and accept our Heavenly Father’s overwhelming hospitality.

Image: flickr_Suzi Edwards-Alexander